Lindsey Graham: Trump's Putin 'schizophrenia' is disturbing

Donald Trump’s distorted view of Russian President Vladimir Putin — or his “schizophrenia,” as Lindsey Graham put it Thursday morning — is disturbing, the South Carolina senator said.

Trump has repeatedly embraced the Russian strongman, calling it “a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected” in a campaign statement in December. More recently, Trump praised Putin as a man who has “been a leader far more than our president has been a leader” during NBC’s commander in chief forum last month.

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“Well, all I can say [is] that schizophrenia that you see is a little bit disturbing to me,” Graham, a colorful and frequent Trump critic, told “CBS This Morning.” “I see Putin as a dictator. He’s destroyed every semblance of democracy in his own country.”

On Wednesday, a day after Trump’s running mate called the Russian leader “small and bullying” during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Trump detached himself from Putin.

“I don’t love. I don’t hate,” Trump said of Putin at a Nevada rally. “We’ll see how it works. We’ll see. Maybe we’ll have a good relationship. Maybe we’ll a horrible relationship. Maybe we’ll have a relationship right in the middle.”

But Graham also expressed some hope for the Trump ticket. In his interview with “CBS This Morning” from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence supported the establishment of safe zones in Syria.

“We have to act. We have to act now to establish and protect those safe zones, and when I was talking the other night in the debate, I said, look, we absolutely should be prepared to use military force to establish and preserve the safe zones and the ability for people to safely evacuate out of those areas,” Pence said. “We cannot stand idly by.”

Graham suggested the GOP ticket’s stance on safe zones in Syria was a new but encouraging position. “What you got out of Mike was something I had not heard before,” he said. “It seems to me that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are being more robust when it comes to getting involved and protecting people and creating safe zones inside Syria.”

Graham has said he plans to vote for neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton. In fact, he infamously described the choice between supporting Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during the GOP primary as “like being shot or poisoned.” “What does it really matter?” he asked reporters at the time in January. (Graham eventually endorsed Cruz.)

Asked Thursday if supporting Trump as the nominee is like being shot or poisoned, Graham insisted that it’s too soon to say, although the Nov. 8 election is only a little more than a month away.

“It’s too early to tell whether we’re shot or poisoned,” he said. “Here’s what I do know, that if he’s gonna be president of the United States, he needs to up his game. Putin’s not our friend, but what I heard about Syria is encouraging.”